Issues & Trends – November 2011
Travelport’s Cummins refutes Universal Desktop
claims made by Sabre Pacific’s Tyrrell
TRAVELPORT country manager Australia and New Zealand Sean Cummins has rejected comments from his opposite number at Sabre Pacific suggesting his company has not yet delivered its “Universal Desktop” product.
In fact, said Cummins, the product is live in 650 stores across Australia, Cummins was responding to remarks made by Sabre Pacific chief executive Gai Tyrrell at this month’s Jetset Travelworld Network conference in Adelaide.
Sabre Pacific is now JTN’s sole preferred GDS after sharing that status with Travelport’s Galileo and Tyrrell is keen to woo Jetset and Travelworld Galileo users over to Sabre.
While she did not name Travelport or its much-vaunted Universal Desktop initiative, Tyrrell was clearly referring to them when she said: “We have a competitor that has promised a product for a very long time and has still not delivered.
“And when it is delivered, it will be rolled out in the red and white stores of your major competitors before you even see it in beta-test form.”
Cummins fired back with a statement that said: “We pride ourselves on our ‘customer first’ approach, which is evident in the strong relationships we have with JTG.
“In particular, we’ve enjoyed a fruitful long-standing partnership with Harvey World Travel for over 20 years.
“One of our biggest successes this year has been the roll-out of Travelport Universal Desktop to agents across Australia and we are currently engaging with multiple beta customers, including MP Travel in Sydney and Orba Travel Brokers in Perth.
“In fact, Travelport Universal Desktop is live with over 650 stores across Australia and customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Travelport Universal Desktop represents the next-generation in travel agency desktops. It isn’t just a graphical layer on a green screen like our competitor products, but provides travel agents with access to content from multiple sources all within an intuitive booking interface that offers clever travel management tools and streamlined workflow processes.”
